USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Gorham > History of Gorham, Me. > Part 39
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John, b. Mar. 15, 1793.
Joseph, b. June 5, 1795.
William, b. May 23, 1797.
Sylvanus, b. Feb. 1'3, 1800.
Benjamin Blake exchanged farms with John Dunn of Brownfield, and with his family moved to that town.
(2) Timothy Blake, son of Ithiel, married Susan Higgins, and their children were :
Miriam F., b. Jan. 4, 1812, m. Mark Newcomb of Harrison, p. Apr. 21, 1832. Ebenezer H., b. Dec. 27, 1813, m. Mehitable, dau. of Dan'l Irish, Oct. 30, 1836 ; one son, Franklin, b. Mar. 16, 1844, was a member of the 11th U. S. Infantry, and d. in the Civil War at Spottsylvania, Va., May 9, 1864. Mrs. Blake d. July 7, 1873, aged 57, and Capt. Blake m. Mrs. Sarah (Bangs) Putnam; he d. Jan. 2. 1879, and his widow m. Frank A. Hamblen.
Ithiel, b. Jan. 30, 1816, m. Esther Files, Nov. 29, 1838 ; d. Sept. 1880.
Apphia H., b. May 21, 1818, m. William E. Files, Jr., Nov. 1837.
Adeline, b. Feb. 21, 1822, m. John Carsley of Harrison, 1842.
Fanny H., b. Jan. 24, 1824, m. Francis Hamblen of Buxton, p. Dec. 1845.
Timothy Blake died at the old homestead, Jan. 7, 1883, aged 93. Mrs. Blake died Apr. 12, 1862, aged 73.
(2) Daniel Blake, son of John, lived for many years in Buxton. He spent the latter years of his life in Gorham on the farm once owned by Lieut. Ebenezer Murch. He was in the War of 1812, serv- ing at Portland in Lieut. Leighton's troop of cavalry. He married Thankful Davis, daughter of John, of Buxton, and granddaughter of Josiah Davis of Gorham. She was born Oct. 23, 1792. Children :
Marshall, b. Dec. 1, 1815, m. Lydia Wiggins of Boston.
Sewell, b. May 11, 1817, m. Eliza Mclellan of Newfield.
Mary, b. July 9, 1819, m. John Stokes of Gorham.
Martha, b. Mar. 21, 1828, m. M. G. Hayden of Durham, N. H. Mr. Hayden was a trader in Gorham, and town clerk from "1861 to 1864.
Mr. Blake died Aug. 30, 1870, aged 84.
BOLTON.
Mary McLellan came from the north of Ireland, and was the sister of Hugh Mclellan of Gorham and James McLellan of Saco. She married in Ireland a man by the name of Craige, much older than herself. Craige.had a son John by a former wife. The family left Ireland for America somewhere about the year 1729 to 1730, and landed first in Boston, Mass. On the voyage over Craige died, leaving his widow with two children, Jane, or Jenny as she was
405
GENEALOGY.
called, and Hugh, with the son John by his first wife. Hugh was probably born about the year 1723 ; Jenny was older.
Thomas Bolton came over in the same vessel. He was said to have been an old bachelor, and from the same town as the Craiges. In Boston he married the widow Craige, and soon after came with his family to Portland, where he remained a while, and had some property ; he then exchanged his property for lands . in Windham, and moved in. This was before the year 1747. The son, John Craige, remained in Boston, and we lose sight of him. Hugh was about six years old when the family left Ireland. The daughter, Jenny Craige, married John Miller of Falmouth (Portland) Aug. 27, 1738. He was a tailor, and carried on quite a business, and was a man of some property. I do not know of their leaving any children or descendants. At one time Hugh Mclellan was living on a farm at Back Cove, and was driven in by fear of the Indians. He says he lived a while in the house with his niece Jenny Miller. This was before Hugh purchased his farm in Gorham, in 1738. Mrs. Miller outlived her husband many years, and died Nov. 4, 1760.
Hugh Craige married Elizabeth Warren in Falmouth, Nov. 11, 1749, and soon after purchased land in the town of Windham, and moved on to it. Of the exact time we have no date, but it was in the early days of Windham. He owned, as early as 1750, the two home lots, Nos. 50 and 51. He was one of the selectmen of the town in 1770 and 1774, and on the Committee of Correspondence in 1773. He is said to have been a good citizen, and has many descendants now living in town. He died Mar. 19, 1777, aged 54, and his wife, Elizabeth Craige, died in 1810, aged 83.
We have not the date of Thomas Bolton and Mary (Mclellan) Craige's marriage, but after their marriage they lived several years in Falmouth, where their son William was born, Apr. 13, 1731. They also had two daughters, Martha, who married Richard Mayberry of Windham, Feb. 21, 1756, and died at the age of 90, and Mary, who was born in 1733, and married Robert Millions of Windham in 1760.
Thomas Bolton settled in Windham, probably on what was called Home Lot, No. 52, for here he had a garrison-house in the time of the Indian war. At the time of his death he was about 90 years old. His wife died in Gorham, aged 89, about the year 1788, which was soon after the death of her husband. She was buried in the orchard opposite the Mclellan brick house, on the road leading to Fort Hill, it not being possible to get her body to Windham on account of the roads, and there being no bridge on the river above Saccarappa.
406
HISTORY OF GORHAM.
Several years after her death, her body was taken up by her grand- sons and taken to Windham, and deposited in the old Anderson burying ground, by the side of her husband. There was a curious story told in relation to her death, which is perhaps rather tinctured with superstition, but we will give it as it was told us. While on a visit to her sister-in-law, Mrs. Elizabeth Mclellan, in Gorham, they were sitting and talking in the southeast front room of the brick house, (now standing) when an old rooster came into the front entry, and commenced to crow most lustily. Mrs. Bolton immediately said to Mrs. McLellan, " Elizabeth, there will be a death in this house in less than a fortnight. That rooster's crowing in the door is a sure sign." "Well," says Mrs. McLellan, "we will make the sign come true, and the old rooster shall be the victim, and we will eat him for dinner." Calling the old fellow up to her, she caught him, and wrung his neck in the room where they were. Notwithstanding this sudden death, it appears not to have been the one predicted by the rooster. Mrs. Bolton was taken next day with a severe attack of dysentery, and cholera-morbus, and died in two days after, and was buried as I have before said.
(2) William Bolton, son of Thomas, lived and died on his father's old farm. In 1747, Aug. 27, the Indians made an assault, and attempted to capture him and William Maxfield. The family tradi- tion is that William Bolton was out hunting for the cattle at the time. Bolton having discharged his gun at the enemy, was rushed on and captured before he could reload. Maxfield being more fortunate in loading, retreated backward toward the fort, with his gun pointed at the Indians, till he was relieved by a body of men coming to his aid. Bolton was marched through the woods into Canada, suffering many hardships, and sold to a French officer, and put on board a French frigate. This frigate soon after was captured by an English vessel, and Bolton was carried into Boston, where he became the servant of a Lient. Wallace, on board of an English frigate, but was soon set at liberty, and returned to his friends in Windham. There is a story told, and probably it is true, that some years afterwards Bolton met his old master, Lieut. Wallace, in Portland, poor and destitute. He took him home to Windnam, where he kept him in comfort and respectability till his death. When Lieut. Wallace died he was 80 years of age.
William Bolton married, March 17, 1757, Rachel, daughter of Thomas Haskell. Children :
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GENEALOGY.
Thomas, b. Feb. 25, 1758, m. Hannah Crockett, Jan. 24, 1782.
William, b. Jan. 1, 1760, m. Ann Webb, Jan. 5, 1786.
Sarah, b. June 18, 1761, m. Edward Webb of Gorham, May 10, 1787.
John, b. Oct. 2, 1762, if m., left no children ; d. June 17, 1812.
Peter, b. June 2, 1764, m. Rebecca Cobb, Mar. 19, 1787 ; I'd in Windham.
Ann, b. May 1, 1766, d. unm., Dec. 25, 1830.
James, b. July 23, 1768, m. Elizabeth Pettengal, Mar. 10, 1796; went to N. Y.
Mary, b. Ang. 14, 1770, m. Daniel Haskell of Windham, Apr. 10, 1794.
Rachel, b. Nov. 16, 1772, d. Feb. 14, 1786.
Elizabeth, b. Apr. 4, 1775, m. Levi Estes.
Solomon, b. Mar. 9, 1778, d. Mar. 14, 1793.
William Bolton died Oct. 12, 1787, aged 56. His wife Rachel, who was born July 12, 1730, died Nov. 25, 1812.
(3) Thomas Bolton, son of William, lived on the farm now (1878) owned and occupied by Daniel Mayberry. He married Hannah, daughter of Lieut. Joshua and Hannah Crockett of Gorham. Chil- dren :
William, b. Dec. 23, 1782, m. Eunice Nason, Oct. 15, 1803.
Joshua, b. Oct. 8, 1784, d. unm.
Benjamin, b. Apr. 1, 1787, m. in St. Andrews, N. B.
Ann, b. - , 1791, m. William Webb, Apr. 29, 1821.
1
Thomas, b. May 16, 1793, m. Martha Noble of Portland. Ch: Thomas, b. 1817, d. in 1830; Eliza Ann, b. 1819, d. y .; Elbridge G., b. June 24, 1822, m. Lydia K. Jordan, May 22, 1845; Charles, b. Mar. 29, 1824, m. Ellen S. Crockett; Harris, b. Apr. 19, 1826, m. Christiana -, in Texas; Sumner C., b. Nov. 15, 1828, m. Lauretta Lane, 1850, 2d, Lottie Shorey, Sept. 15, 1891, was a clothier, and for many years I'd at Gorham village, d. in 1899; Thomas J., b. Dec. 1, 1830, lost at sea ; Eliza, m. John M. Howe; John b .- Mr. Thomas Bolton m. in 1848 Mrs. Mary Eaton, and I'd in Portland.
Thomas Bolton, Sen. died in Gorham near Sapling Hill, on his farm, June 18, 1793. His widow married, July 11, 1795, Joseph Lombard, and died Dec. 28, 1843, aged 83.
(3) William Bolton, son of William, married Ann, daughter of Eli and Sarah Webb, and lived in Gorham on the farm lately owned and occupied by Otis Entiery. Children :
Rachel, b. Dec. 16, 1786, m. John Morton, May 10, 1807.
Sally, b. Dec. 22, 1788, d. young.
Sally, b. May 24, 1790, m. James Emery of Windham, Sept. 5, 1811. Martha, b. July 16, 1792, m. Caleb Hodgdon, Oct 5, 1834.
William Bolton died July 18, 1793. His widow married, Mar. 30, 1797, William Libby, Jr., and died in Gorham, Dec. 28, 1855, aged 93.
(4) William Bolton, son of Thomas, married Eunice Nason. He lived on his father's farm, near Gambo, at Sapling Hill, near what is now called Pleasant Ridge. Children :
Abigail, b. Feb. 15, 1804, d. unm., Jan. 14, 1872.
Hannah, b. Nov. 29, 1805, m. James Strout of Raymond, Oct. 26, 1833. Eleanor, b. Aug. 26, 1807, m. Edmund Green of Portland, p. Mar. 19, 1833. Anna, b. Aug. 5, 1810, m. Samuel S. Waterhouse, June 3, 1838.
408
HISTORY OF GORHAM.
Rachel, b. -- , 1812.
Thomas, b. Jan 17, 1815, m. Mary Ann Moody of Standish, Dec. 17, 1845; I'd near Gambo. Ch: William M., b. Sept. 3, 1846, m. Carrie Gray ; Elizabeth, b. Mar. 8, 1850, m. Walter Buxton. Mr. Bolton d. Aug. 29, 1851.
Sabine, b. Apr. 26, 1816, m. Ann Thomes; d. in Biddeford; his widlow m. Thomas Randall.
William Bolton died July 10, 1856. Mrs. Eunice Bolton died Apr. 8, 1862, aged 77.
BOWMAN.
Dr. Nathaniel Bowman was the third physician who settled in Gorham. He was a graduate of Harvard College, class of 1786, and practiced here for some years. He married Sally Johnson of Andover, Mass., to whom he was published July 10, 1789. Children :
Samuel Gardner, b. Oct. 9, 1790.
Sally, b. Nov. 19, 1792.
Joshua, b. Oct. 24, 1795.
Dr. Bowman died in Gorham on the 8th day of June, 1797. He was engaged, with others, in raising the frame of the Congregational meeting house, when through some cause a part of the rigging, by which they were raising one of the broad-sides, gave way, and he was struck by some of the falling timbers and instantly killed. A young man, by the name of James Tryon, was so injured that he died the next day. James Irish was taken up for dead, but proved to be unharmed. Several others were injured, but none badly. This was at a day when the raising of a church was the signal for a general meeting of all the population for miles around the country. This was the case here, Gorham was one of the largest villages in the region, the church was to be a large one, added to which there was to have been a ball in the evening as a closing service to the raising. All this, as said, caused a general gathering of all, both young and old, who felt a great interest in the new church. At the time the accident happened there must have been more than a thousand persons about and within a very short distance of the frame, and to those present it appeared almost a miracle that no more were hurt.
Dr. Bowman was a good physician, and an enterprising man, with his whole soul in his work. He was a great loss to the town, and his death cast a gloom over the village that was not soon forgotten. After the death of Dr. Bowman the family left town. His widow died about 1860. The family while living in Gorham, occupied the house where the late Stephen Hinkley, Jr. lived.
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GENEALOGY.
BRACKETT.
Anthony and Thomas Brackett came to Falmouth, from Ports- mouth, N. H., about 1662. Mr. Willis says that they were sons of Anthony of Portsmouth. Anthony, the son, married first, Ann, daughter of Michael Mitton, and second, Susannah Drake, of Hamp- ton, N. H. Thomas, the other son, married Mary Mitton, sister to Ann. Both the brothers were killed by the Indians; Thomas, near his dwelling house, in 1676, and Anthony, on his farm at Back Cove, in 1689.
Anthony Brackett, son of Joshua, and grandson of Thomas, was born in Greenland, N. H., in 1707. He married, Feb. 14, 1733, Sarah Knight, and second, in 1756, his cousin, Mrs. Kerenhappuch Hicks, daughter of Samuel and Susanna (Brackett) Proctor, and widow of Joseph Hicks. It does not appear that Anthony Brackett was ever a citizen of Gorham, but we find that on May 21, 1739, he bought of Shubael Gorham, lot 58, being the thirty acre lot directly north of Phinney's homestead. Mar. 16, 1740, he sold this land to Capt. Phinney. Mr. Brackett had ten children, John, Thomas, James, Mary, Joshua, Elizabeth, Keziah, Samuel, Nathaniel and Sarah. Of these, James, Mary, Joshua and Nathaniel, probably settled in Gorham. Anthony Brackett died Sept. 10, 1784, aged 77. His widow Kerenhappuch died in Gorham, Mar. 21, 1821, at the age of 93, at the house of her grandson, James Smith, who then lived in the old Samuel Staples house. Smith was the son of her daughter Mary. Mary's first husband was a Halliday, whom she married May 22, 1783. She married second, James Smith, about the year 1785 ; and third, Isaiah Thomas, in 1800.
(2) James Brackett, son of Anthony, was born June 13, 1745. He was a farmer. His farm joined the old David Harding farm, on the south. His house stood on the knoll, near the road, before that part of the road running from Little Falls to White Rock, had been altered and straightened. The house has been gone for many years. Dec. 20, 1770, he married Mehitable Fabyan of Portland, and prob- ably came to Gorham about the time of his marriage. The children of James and Mehitable Brackett were :
Rufus, b. Nov. 16, 1771, d. Aug. 17, 1795.
Fabyan, b. May 30, 1774, d. Aug. 30, 1775. Olive, b. Oct. 17, 1776, d. Apr. 3, 1795.
Betsey, b. Apr. 30, 1779, m. Capt. Thos. Libby of Scarboro, Nov. 14, 1822; d. Jan. 6, 1825.
Mary, b. June 17, 1781, d. Oct. 23, 1783.
Keziah, b. Sept. 1, 1783, m. Daniel Brackett, Aug. 15, 1812 ; I'd in Naples.
410
HISTORY OF GORHAM.
Mehitable, b. Oct. 14, 1785, m. Wm. Harmon of Scarboro, Mar. 23, 1833 ; I'd in Standish.
Sally, b. Aug. 15, 1788, m. Moses Fogg of Scarboro, p. July 14, 1810.
Joseph F., b. Sept. 30, 1790, m. Catherine Emery, Dec. 5, 1819; I'd in Bidde- ford; d. Feb. 13, 1857.
Patience, b. Aug. 1, 1794, m: Wm. Haggett of Portland, Dec. 4, 1817 ; d. Sept. 17, 1871.
Isabella, b. May 18, 1796, d. Sept. 6, 1799.
James Brackett died Jan. 11, 1803. His wife Mehitable died July 1, 1832, aged 80.
(2) Joshua Brackett, son of Anthony, lived at Little Falls, in the corner where the road running past the town farm joins the road to White Rock. He married Abigail Kendrick. Children :
Jeremiah, m. Elizabeth Cloudman, Mar. 24, 1816.
Alfred, m. Priscilla Bramhall, May 19, 1816.
Lewis, m. Mary Ward of Windham, Feb. 26, 1824; d. in Gorham; his widow m. Mr. Walker in 1839.
John, d. May 24, 1832, aged 27.
Capt. Joshua Brackett died Aug. 20, 1826, aged 64.
(2) Nathaniel Brackett, son of Anthony, was a sea captain, and lived in Portland as long as he followed the sea. About 1800 he moved to Gorham and bought the farm since owned by Levi Estes, and which is about a half mile east of the town farm. He married Elizabeth Lewis of Portland. Children :
Samuel, b. -, m. Louisa Ingram of Portland, p. Feb. 19, 1820; I'd in Lew- iston; d. about 1875. Patience, b. -, m. W.m. Lovitt of Windham, Mar. 6, 1820; d. in Otisfield. Mary, b. Aug. 14, 1802, m. Rev. Jonas Tracy; 2d, Holmes Thomas; d. in Wales.
Eliza, b. __ , m. Chas. Gardiner ; d. in Portland, about 1868.
Jane, b. July 29, 1805, m. Rev. David Newell of Durham, Aug. 27, 1825.
Martha, b. July 20, 1807, d. unm. in Gorham, in 1862-3.
Margaret, b. July 20, 1811, m. Wm. Dunn; d. in S. Paris, about 1883.
William, b. June 4, 1812, m. Susan Green of Otisfield ; d. in O. about 1872. Frederick, b. Mar. 4, 1814, m. Mary Knight of Otisfield; d. in O. in Nov. 1896.
Capt. Brackett sold his farm in Gorham, and took up a farm in Otisfield, where he and his wife died.
(3) John Brackett, son of John and grandson of Anthony, was born in Falmouth in 1770. He married Jane, daughter of John and Jane Warren of Falmouth, and lived for a time in Gorham on the old Rice place. Children :
George, b. Feb. 13, 1796. Mary, b. Apr. 28, 1798. John, b. Feb. 23, 1800. William W., b. Sept. 22, 1803.
Shortly after the birth of this last child, Mr. Brackett removed to Parsonsfield.
411
GENEALOGY.
(3) Alfred Brackett, son of Capt. Joshua, married Priscilla, daughter of Cornelius Bramhall. Soon after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Brackett moved to Dixfield, where their children were born. About 1843 the family returned to Gorham, and lived on Capt. Joshua's old homestead. Children :
Leonard, m. Mary -- in N. H .; d. in Cal.
Sarah J., m. Freeman Paine.
Abbie, m. William Rivinius.
Ellen, m. Albion Stiles of Westbrook.
Lewis, m. Drusilla Woodbury, Jan. 17, 1857.
Martha, m. George Sanborn of N. H .; 2d, Chas. Stanyan of N. H.
Mary, m. Winslow Burnham of Biddeford.
Frances, m. Wm. Moore of Biddeford.
Alfred Brackett died about 1875-6. Mrs. Brackett died in 1878.
Joseph Brackett was born in old Falmouth May 17, 1758. He was a soldier in the Revolution. He was in Gorham as early as 1780. He married Sarah, daughter of Barnabas and Loruhama Bangs (pub. Mar. 30, 1781). There is no perfect record of their children, but there were :
Jerusha, b. in Gorham, July 19, 1783, d. with the Shakers in Poland.
Barnabas, I'd and d. at Denmark, where he kept a hotel.
Benjamin, joined the Gorham Shakers.
Comfort, d. in Gorham with the Shakers.
Zachariah Bangs, I'd on Brackett St., Westbrook.
Isaac, b. in Cumberland, May 18, 1792, d. with the Shakers in Alfred, May 22, 1836.
Sarah, b. in Gorham, May, 1795, d. with the Shakers in Alfred, Apr. 9, 1819.
Elisha, b. in Cumberland, May, 6, 1797, joined the Shakers; changed his name
to Joseph ; became an Elder and head of the Me. Societies; d. in New Gloucester in 1882.
This family joined the Shakers, with whom Joseph Brackett died in Poland.
Joshua Brackett, a descendant of Anthony, born in Falmouth, July 21, 1762, served in the Revolutionary army. He moved to Limington about 1784. His grandson Charles A. Brackett, son of Robert and Apphia Brackett, lives in Gorham on the old John Hanscom place. He married Frances W., daughter of David S. and Martha (Small) Libby. One child :
Edward E., m. Lizzie Faulkner.
BRAMHALL.
Cornelius Brimhall had a proprietor's right in Narragansett, No. 7, which he purchased of Shubael Gorham, May 23, 1739 ; but we think he never came to Gorham to live.
412
HISTORY OF GORHAM.
Sylvanus Brimhall came from Plymouth, Mass., and was styled a clothier. In 1766 he purchased of Moses Akers the seventy acre lot, 49. July 30, 1770, he purchased of Enoch Freeman, for £13-6-8, the house and lot formerly owned by Rev. Ebenezer Townsend, which was situated on the west side of the Fort Hill road, north of where the house of Mr. Isaac Dyer now stands. Sylvanus Brimhall was a private in Capt. Richard Mayberry's company, 11th Mass. regiment, in the war of the Revolution. He had a sister Sarah, who married Jonathan Elwell. The hill at West Gorham, on which George Elwell, son of Jonathan, lately lived is still known as Bram- hall's hill. The children of Sylvanus Brimhall and Esther his wife were :
Cornelius, b. Apr. 6, 1768, m. Meribah McDonald, Feb. 28, 1788.
Martha, b. Aug. 28, 1769.
Betty, b. Nov. 4, 1771, m. James Goodwin, Oct. 23, 1794.
John B., b. Sept. 5, 1773.
Sylvanus, b. Aug. 5, 1775.
Polly, b. Oct. 7, 1779, m. Abraham Edwards, Jan. 1, 1805.
Esther, b. Aug. 25, 1782.
(2) Cornelius Bramhall, son of Sylvanus, at one time lived on his father's place, the thirty acre lot, No. 8. He married Meribah, daughter of Charles and Priscilla McDonald. Children :
Charles, b. Dec. 3, 1788.
Martha, b. Mar. 24, 1791.
Priscilla, b. June 29, 1793, m. Alfred Brackett, May 19, 1816.
Esther, b. Aug. 4, 1796, m. William H. Smith, Oct. 27, 1823.
Almira, b. Mar. 20, 1800, m. John Dean, Oct. 27, 1823. (?)
BRIGGS.
Abiel Briggs was in Gorham as early as 1780. In 1792 he pur- chased of Benjamin Weeks a house and farm of twenty-four acres in the south part of the town, being the same deeded by John Dyer to his son-in-law William Weeks. Mr. Briggs was a musician, as well as farmer. Gen. Irish relates in his diary, that in 1790 he and some of his young friends hired Mr. Briggs to keep a singing school in his (Irish's) father's house, and " paid him in corn and pork." "Cash was not to be had, but by a few persons." Abiel Briggs married, Aug. 26, 1786, Lucy, daughter of John and Lois Perkins. She died June 10, 1788, aged 18, and he married, Jan. 20, 1791, Polly, daugh- ter of Nathaniel and Mercy Dunn. Children :
John Perkins, b. Sept. 4, 1791, was a physician in Portland.
Lucy Perkins, b. Mar. 4, 1794.
About 1800 Mr. Briggs removed to Portland, where he died a few years later ; his wife survived him.
413
GENEALOGY.
BROWN.
GRANDMOTHER COLE, AND THE BROWNS.
Timothy Cole was one of the original grantees of Narragansett, No. 7, or Gorhamtown. His eldest son was Timothy. The number of Cole's right was 41. This lot was on the northerly side of the old Buxton road, being the first lot easterly from the house of Samuel Cressey (1878), and is called the Brown lot. By reference to a deed given by Joseph Brown and his wife Susanna to Zephaniah Harding in 1764, wherein they convey the seventy acre lot to which No. 41 would be entitled in the lotting-out of the then common lands in town, they say they own this in consequence of having purchased the Proprietary right of Timothy Cole, by his deed to them dated Oct. 23, 1751; recorded in the York County Records. We know the Browns lived on this lot in 1797, for Edmund Brown, a grandson of Joseph and Susanna, married Elizabeth, daughter of Isaac Skillings, Aug. 6, 1797, and took her home to a house on 41. They lived in what for many years was known as the Brown house, which stood in the field opposite the house of Seth Hersey on the old Buxton road, and which has been torn down for many years. The land is now owned by Mr. Cressey. Edmund Brown was a sea-faring man, and died away from home at sea, not many years after his marriage. It is said that his clothes, instruments and telescope came home to his widow, but she could never obtain any clear account of where or how he died. He left no children. His widow married John Pride of Westbrook, and died leaving no children.
Timothy Cole was an Eastham man, and one of the Proprietors of Gorham ; Joseph Harding was an Eastham man, and a Proprietor ; his number was 39; Geo. Brown was also' of Eastham, and a Propri- etor, his number being 44. Thus far we cannot find Timothy Cole in the town of Gorham, but in early times there was an old lady here whose name was Cole. She was known as "Grandmother Cole," and from what little we can learn, think she was in some way con- nected with the Hardings and Browns. The last we know of her, she lived at Gorham corner, nearly in, or where, the road is now travelled in front of the brick house and store owned by Lewis Mclellan ; and the old well found some years ago several feet under the sidewalk, was the well used by her, near where her house stood. She was alive at the time of the burning of Portland, during the Rev- olution, when becoming frightened, thinking the British would come up to Gorham and steal everything they could find, she dropped her ox-chains into this same well to hide them.
414
HISTORY OF GORHAM.
Several families of the name of Brown came to Gorham from East- ham, Mass., among whom were those of Joseph, Samuel and Sylva- nus.
Samuel Brown lived at West Gorham. He was a cordwainer by trade. In April, 1770, be bought of Barnabas Harding fifty acres from the hundred acre lot, 89. His wife was Barbara -- . She was the first convert in Gorham to the Shaker doctrine. She and her husband both joined the Shaker family. Children, the two old- est born in Eastham :
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